Via The Mary Sue, Holiday House imprint Margaret Ferguson Books have announced “Be That Way,” a young adult graphic novel by Hope Larson. Set in 1996, the book follows Christine, a 17-year old high schooler who decides to stick to her New Year’s resolutions, and records how she manages in her journal. As the book’s listing by distributor Penguin Random House elaborates, Christine longs to be as popular as her best friend, Landry, and soon falls out with her, as well as her other best friend, cinephile Paul, after kissing him.
When the summer begins, Christine “gets a job at her neighborhood video store, experiments with her art, and becomes romantically entangled with her next-door neighbor Whit, who’s either the coolest guy ever or a total jerk. In spite of all this, she doesn’t quite feel shiny — until a shocking betrayal shows her the value of the words and drawings she hides in her diary, and she finally understands that she doesn’t need to be cool to be noticed — she only needs to be herself.”
The book marks Larson’s second at Holiday House, following 2021’s “Salt Magic.” She told The Mary Sue that it is her first digitally created project. Speaking directly about the cover, which depicts Christine, she said “I wanted the cover to reflect her slightly messy, overwhelmingly creative personality,” and “to have a mixed-media, handmade quality” in spite of its digital nature.
She continues, “I tried to channel the self-portraits I drew in high school, when I was a little baby artist. It took multiple tries and many revisions to arrive at the final version of the cover, which is reflective of the process of making the whole book. I’m so proud of ‘Be That Way’ and can’t wait to share it with all of you!”
“Be That Way” will be released in hardcover on October 3, 2023, and will retail at 272 pages for $22.99. You can check out a preview in the meantime at the link.
